2018-2019 Kinder Crew

We are off and running!  We have a crew of eager learners ready to build their knowledge in kindergarten.  Be on the lookout for videos in the "Help! How To" section of the blog that will assist you in helping your child with different areas of learning.  I will be including a video of our Sound Symbol Cards that will be fantastic to watch a few nights a week with your student to help them learn their letter sounds.  YouTube is also an awesome resource to find educational videos to help with kindergarten skills.  You can search for videos about the alphabet, shapes, numbers, etc.  Our goal is to know our letter names and sounds by Fall Break. Please check our blog often for information and pictures. 

Final Stretch

Can you believe that we only have a little over a month left?  It has flown by.  We are still working hard, learning new things, and having fun in kindergarten.  This week we are learning all about butterflies.  We are even observing the life cycle of a butterfly first hand.  Ask your child about our caterpillars!  In math, we are composing and decomposing numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and recording each composition or decomposition by a drawing or equation (such as 18 = 10 + 8); understanding that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones.

We even have our Bee-Bots out during center time and while working with our high school friends.  

Read Across America Fun

We had a great week of Read Across America!  We had some really great dress up days, fun books by Dr. Seuss, a visit from the Cat in the Hat, and even green eggs and ham at breakfast friday.  It was a memorable week at SES.

Let's get caught up!

Math:  We are currently learning all about addition and subtraction.  We are finishing up our lessons on math words problems and beginning our lessons on ways to make ten.  

Language Arts:  We are working hard on reading!  Please continue to practice sight words, read library books, and homework books.  Ask your child about words with secrets!

Science:  We will be revisiting weather this week.  We will be building structures to keep our UV frogs safe from the sun. 

Quarter 3 Report Cards will be available in a week!

Quarter 4 Sight Word List will be coming home this week.  

Hard Work Alert!

We have had some hard workers this week!  There are so many kiddos leveling up in Lexia, logging into the computer without help, and learning their letters and sounds.  Let's not forget AR.  We are rocking it out, too!  We even got to jump in the bouncy houses as a reward! Best of all, we made 3D Haunted Houses last Friday, and they look so awesome!  Pictures to come...

Boo!

Be on the lookout for Progress Reports.  You may find more detailed information by signing in to your Mastery Connect.  Also, I am looking forward to speaking with you on Tuesday night for Parent/Teacher Conferences.  

Thanks go out to the parent volunteers that helped us construct our 3D Haunted Houses.  We still lack the finishing touches, but they look pretty spooktacular!  

New sight words have been added, so be sure to practice those, in addition to the ones still not mastered.  You may also want to check out Lexia with your child at home.  It is a great online resource for the kids.  We have had a lot of kiddos level up already.  YAY!

What's that Smell?

This past week, we tackled the 5 senses.  Our smell jars were a hit.  The bad smells sure did get a reaction!

Next week, we will begin our unit of study on plants and animals.  If you have any spare shoe boxes, we would love to take them off your hands.  Our table teams will be creating habitats while taking into consideration animal and plant adaptations.  Students will also be conducting a little research on our Chromebooks to help them pick out the perfect additions to their habitat. I cannot wait to see what they have created!

Getting in the Groove

We are getting in the groove of school now!  This week we start Accelerated Reader tests.  Students will test each Thursday at this point in the year.  Please make sure you have read and discussed your child's library book.  We will get new books each Friday.  Check the agenda for the score each Thursday afternoon.  Also, continue to practice those sight words, letters, letter sounds, and counting 1 to 1.  Additionally, your child will be bringing home a sight word reader each Thursday.  This book will contain sight words from our 1st Quarter list.  Students have been practicing them all week, so they should ROCK IT OUT!  Looking forward to finishing off this week strong.  Go Rough Riders!

Finders hard at work!

Let the 2017-2018 Year Begin!

We have had a great first two days in kindergarten.  Please note that the kiddos have PE on every Monday and Wednesday.  Also, we have snack each day, so you are more than welcome to send a snack.  Want to help at home?  Practice number recognition to 10, identifying the letters of the alphabet, and writing our first names.  I will also be sending home a brown paper bag on Monday.  This bag is for Show & Tell on Friday.  Students will place 4-5 items inside that best describes them.  This will be a great way for us to get to know our classmates.  It's going to be a great week!

100th Day is next week!!!

Can you believe that we are merely a week away from the 100th Day of School?  Wow, time flies.  If you are able to volunteer that day, please return the bottom portion of the letter that was sent home last week.  Also, please review your child's Quarter 2 Report Card.  I will be scheduling conferences for anyone that would like to further discuss their child's progress.  Also, I will be sending info about the Valentine's Party this week.  Looking forward to a great week of Kindergarten!

Been a minute...

We have been just so busy!  We have investigated a pumpkin, tried pumpkin seeds, voted for President, learned about wants and needs, participated in a Global Skype with the GoNoodle gang, and even got to play on the big kids playground.  It's zoomed right by, and I can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving!  I sure am thankful for all of these wonderful kiddos!!!

Please bring in Can Food and Non-perishable food items for our drive.  This will also be a great activity to further discuss "needs".

3D Haunted Houses

Our October PBL (project based learning) activity centered around 3D shapes and reusing.  We have been collecting junk, from what seems, every person in Symsonia for the past month or so!  Believe me, our room was starting to look like a junkyard.  When the time finally arrived, we were able to take that junk and make some pretty awesome haunted houses.  The students worked with their table to team to construct some pretty cool structures.  They then were able to paint them black.  Mrs. Janet then went over them with some black spray paint to fill in any missed spots.  After they dried, the students were able to decorate them.  They couldn't wait to display them around the school.  The kids also created for sale signs in google slides.  We learned about fonts and editing size and color.  We also learned about adding clip art.  Best of all, they had to price their masterpieces.  So, if anyone is needing a good house, we've got you covered...if you can afford it.  Haha  We encourage you to come and see them one day if you didn't get a chance to see them at Parent Teacher Conferences.  On that note, thank you to all the parents that came.  Together we are a TEAM!

Fun Week!

Today was awesome!  In our cooperative learning groups, we created habitat dioramas.  Each group did a little google image research and they were ready to create.  We had an ocean, desert, grassland, rain forest, and tundra!  The kiddos were able to explain their habitat, the animals needs, and the plants needs.  They also were able to explain how some of the plants and animals could change their environment.  They really did an excellent job!  I was so proud of them.

We also had our 1st Golden Horseshoe recipient.  Way to go Owen on always following RIDER Expectations and setting a great example for other students!

How could I forget?  We got to play on the brand new playground!!!!

Another great week in Kindergarten!

This week we were continuing to learn about 3D shapes.  We were also digging into science and learning about animals and plants.  We have been observing worms in their environment and how they change it.  We also planted bean seeds after reading Jack and the Beanstalk and Trust Me Jack Beanstalk!: The Story of Jack and the Beanstalk as Told by the Giant.  We compared and contrasted the two versions and discussed point of view.  Since we were learning about the needs of plants we
decided to plant 5 seeds and deprive some of them of at least one need to see what would happen.  The kiddos are really excited to see if that plant in the cabinet will grow!!!  Oh, and how could I forget, we had our first group of students meet their 1st AR goal of 5-100% accuracy tests!  They got to chew gum on Friday.  That is just a small snippet of the wonderfully fun things we were doing in Kindergarten this week.  Have a great weekend.